And the Children Shall Lead
by StarkidDreamer
Summary: Darcy moved around a lot due to her mothers job, but now she's looking forward to finishing her high school career up at Sky High. When Heroes start disappearing though her hopes of a simple year get shattered. She thought high school would be hard enough having a super power and being deaf but fate, of course, has other plans. (OC friendship fic.)
1. Chapter 1

"You'll be _fine_. Just relax." Darcy's mother insisted one last time despite the fact that Darcy wasn't actually protesting. She had been through this song and dance before and was in no way nervous about her first day at Sky High. That wouldn't stop her mom from fussing like a mother hen though. Darcy gave her mother a look and she sighed. "Okay, okay. I have faith in you. Good luck, don't kill anyone."

"Har Har." the words came out heavy and awkward on her tongue but her mom softened at it.

"Okay, off you pop." Darcy nodded, hair swinging back and forth in it's pony tail, then turned and headed out the front door. She returned approximately two seconds later to grab the backpack her mom was holding out for her, brows raised. "Mm hm. _Totally _fine." Darcy ducked her head sheepishly then hurried off to the bus.

Darcy's mom travelled a lot for work. She'd been to two high schools in three years and had to be held back a year due to all the travelling. So Darcy was a seventeen year old sophomore this year and she was _not _the happiest person in the world about it. She shouldered her bag and sloshed her way through the sunny streets of Maxville Washington. Though the town was perpetually sunny it still felt bleak to her. It gave her a stepford wives kind of vibe. She essentially knew where the bus stop was, her mom had walked her to it the other day. A 'dry run' so she could see how long it would take to walk to the stop and which way to go. Honestly, it was just her mom being over protective. Even _she _could admit that.

There were no benches for Darcy to sit at while waiting for the bus but that didn't really bother her too much. She was wound up and ready for school, despite her flakiness earlier. Sure, Darcy would rather be a junior and back in Chicago but that wouldn't stop her from adapting to Maxville. The place was significantly smaller so it would be a little more difficult to find her niche but she'd done it before and she'd do it again. The bus pulled up, doors whooshing open with a sharp rush of air, and she cautiously climbed up into the cab of the bus. She lifted her hands, making a few signs before her Sign Language Ring spoke in a monotonous robotic voice. "This is the bus to Sky High, right?"

The door shut with a rush behind her and the bus driver looked rather annoyed. "Just announce it to the world then, why don't you?" the bus driver was a middle aged woman, plump with short curly red hair and painted red lips. She was chewing some bubble gum, making it hard to understand what she was saying, but Darcy got the general idea.

"Sorry." she signed back and the rings on her fingers and wrists translated the word aloud. The bus driver said something that Darcy couldn't quite catch around the pop of her bubble gum shaping her lips but the gesture the woman made with her hands made it clear that she wanted her to go to the back and take her seat. Darcy took one of the empty seats and stared out the window as the bus started moving.

Each school was different so she wasn't sure how this bus ride was going to go.

In Chicago the school had been under the city. They took elevators that dropped them down to the underbelly of the city. There were tunnels, sixty miles or so of unused tunnels under the city that had been retrofitted with classrooms, a lunch room, gym, and bathrooms. The walls had been stripped and cleaned, leaving room for art students to paint murals over most of the cave system walls. It was stuffy and scary at first but it was beautiful in the end. She'd loved it. Darcy wasn't artsy herself but she still made her mark on the walls before she left. It was a bit of a tradition. Every student who graduated got to make their mark. They'd made an exception for her, letting her leave her mark despite the fact that she was transferring instead of graduating. She'd made some real friends there.

The bus made several more stops before the woman driving the vehicle called something back. Darcy only noticed because her eyes had locked on the mirror above the drivers seat and saw the woman's lips moving. She turned to the person sitting next to her, someone who'd gotten onto the bus a stop or two ago, and signed "What did she say?" He lowered his head phones, eyes glancing down at the rings on her fingers and wrist then back up at her face.

"She said sit back, we're about to go off road." he responded slowly, making sure to enunciate his words carefully. She smiled at the effort he put into answering her.

"Thanks. I'm Darcy."

"Warren." he straightened out of his slumped position, gesturing with his hand for her to do the same, then the seat belts came out. It was sudden and sharp pressure on her shoulders, pressing her back into the seat. Her eyes went round, panic shooting through her for a moment before the strangers hand patted her arm calmingly. She glanced over at him, trying to assure her that this was all normal. She relaxed, trusting that another student knew what was up and that this was normal.

"Thanks." the rings spoke as she signed. Warren nodded and gripped the seat belt tightly. Darcy copied the movement as the bus suddenly sped forward. Her head whipped towards the window, hands releasing the seat belt to press against the window. She practically had her nose pressed to the glass when the bus flew off the edge of an unfinished bridge. She couldn't hear the screams around her, screams of joy mostly. Most of the bus was filled with older students but there were a few freshmen that were panicking. And Darcy.

She'd had some pretty interesting rides to school before, this one was probably number two on the list of amazing ones. She felt the thrusters kick in under her then felt her body rush forward instead of the unsettling free falling feeling from before and pressed closer to the window. There were birds flying near by. She flew through a _cloud_! Darcy was giddy, excitement thrumming through her. She'd never been to a school in the actual _sky _before. She'd thought that the name was a play on words before. She'd been wrong. She could see the school now, the bus pulling around to circle it before making a smooth landing.

She turned to Warren but he'd already gotten up with the rest of the students. She let out a low sigh, pulled herself to her feet, and shuffled off the bus with everyone else. Darcy was accosted almost the moment she got off the bus. "You must be Darcy Hill! I'm Jessica Lewis! Student body president! Most people call me Freeze Girl though! I'm supposed to take you to the principals office!"

"You don't have to shout, Ms. Lewis. I can't hear you no matter how loud you say things. Just talk normal and look at me. I'll probably be able to understand you." Darcy signed, smiling awkwardly.

"Right… sorry. You can call me Jess. It's nice to meet you. Come on and follow me, I'll take you to the principal so we can get things settled." she smiled slightly, gesturing for her to follow. Darcy smiled and nodded.

"You can call me Darcy. I don't think you can really shorten that." she laughed aloud, something she usually didn't bother with, and Jess smiled at her.

"Trust me, we'll find a way." she gestured for her to follow her again and Darcy scurried along behind her. She glanced around, watching the halls as she was lead through them. The lockers were pretty standard here, almost like a normal high schools. In Chicago the lockers had been built into the wall to maximize space, the tunnels carved out to give people the room. In New York there was some kind of void storage system. It was kind of cool but not really possible anywhere else. One of the teachers there had minute control over interdimensional travel. They'd set up a system to store their things in an empty universe. Still, the occasional book got lost. Once, a student but they were found rather quickly and nobody pushed any students in their 'locker' ever again.

The hall was plain, besides the students running back and forth, chatting idly. She couldn't see anything that didn't read normal high school to her, aside from the faint scorch mark on the floor from what looked like skid marks. She'd never been in such a normal high school. It was kind of exhilarating. Then again, Darcy was an excitable person. Jess offered a seat to Darcy as soon as they entered the office then went to talk to the receptionist. She came back a moment later and offered a big thumbs up. "The principal can talk to you in a minute, okay? Just wait here and she'll come get you when she's ready for you."

"Okay, thanks Jess."

"Not a problem. I'm going to get to class." she gave a jaunty little wave then off she went, blonde hair rippling behind her as the door closed.

Jess was a beauty. She had long blonde hair that trailed to the middle of her back and a dancers frame. Her eyes were Darcy's favorite feature though. They were a beautiful greyish blue color with a brownish green center. Freeze Girl was absolutely beautiful, and nobody would say otherwise, that was for sure. Darcy was pretty average looking aside from a few prominent features. She wouldn't call herself ugly but she certainly wasn't as pretty as Jess was, in her opinion. The only thing really outstanding about Darcy was the smattering of freckles across her face. They weren't even concentrated to one position on her face. There were some on her nose, some on her cheeks, some on her forehead. If asked, most people would say it's the first thing they noticed about her. She felt a gently tap on her shoulder and glanced up at the immaculate Principal Powers.

"If you could follow me into my office?" the principal said and signed at the same time. It was refreshing not to have to focus on the principals mouth as she spoke. Lip reading wasn't exactly a science. It was more of an art. If the person had an accent it was even harder. Everyone said certain words certain ways. Some words make similar shapes when spoken aloud. It was mostly guesswork. The more familiar with a person the easier it got, of course, but it wasn't easy either way. "Take a seat, Ms. Hill." Darcy plopped down in the chair, pulling her heavy bag into her lap.

"This school is a little different than the one's you've attended in the past, Ms. Hill. We have a hero and hero support system to help us better train you and prepare you for the type of future you have waiting for you based off of your power." the wording seemed a little off to her but she didn't think too much on it. "You'll either be sorted into hero or hero support. Sidekick." she explained. "Heroes and Hero Support train separately to develop the skills needed for each sub category."

"That seems a little strange. At my old school we trained together to promote unity." Principal Powers nodded and let out a low sigh.

"That being said," the principal signed. "You've been sorted into Hero Support. I have your schedule prepared for you already. I used the schedule from your old schools to customize your electives but if anything in here is something you'd rather not take let me know." she held a piece of paper out towards Darcy and she took it, glancing over the schedule. She took a good minute to look it over, scrutinizing it after the first glance when she realized some of the classes were wrong.

"Wait, I'm not in advanced combat." she signed quickly, glancing up.

"Our school grades differently than your last one so we bumped up a few of your core classes. We don't want you being held back due to credits to hold back your education. We're hoping that if we put you in some junior classes and some sophomore classes we can bump you up to the proper grade by the end of the year."

"Thank you." she was actually pretty relieved that the principal was working with her like this.

"We also made you special bracelet that vibrates every time our bell rings so you won't be late to class and we've asked your teachers to look at the class when they speak so you can read their lips and won't miss anything important. We didn't want to make you uncomfortable by being treated different from other students." the principal leaned forward, offering the bracelet to Darcy. She took it, hooking it around her wrist.

"I appreciate that, Principal Powers." the bracelet vibrated against her wrist, above her Sign Language Ring, and she looked up at the principal. "Can I go to class now?"

"Yes, go on. Have a good first day."

Darcy hoped she would.

* * *

><p>Wow, it's been a long time since I posted a fic on here. I'm hoping to update a few and get this one typed up and finished. Let me know what you think!<p> 


	2. Chapter 2

The first thing Darcy noticed about Sky High, aside from the fact that it was actually _in the sky_, was the obvious difference between the 'Sidekick' and 'Hero' classes. The Hero classes were held on the second floor, there was sunlight streaming through the windows and a cleanliness that made Darcy think that maybe, just maybe, she could actually _eat _off the floor. The Hero Support classes were held on the first floor. The first class of the day that she had featured shuttered windows with weakly filtered light and a thick layer of dust that sent her into a rough coughing fit the moment she walked in. It didn't seem fair to her but it wasn't her place to comment.

The teacher, Mr. Boy, lead her to her seat and gave her her book, the cover taped into place. She flipped through it, growing frustration clear on her face, then turned to the kid next to her. "Is all the Hero Support equipment so bad?" she signed. The kid wore a white shirt, neon yellow stripes down his side, sleeves the same bright yellow in a typical baseball shirt style. His hair was bleached or maybe he was just the blondest human being on the planet, either way… _wow_.

"Pretty much, man." he responded honestly, then leaned over with his arm outstretched across his body. He offered it to her. "Zach."

"Darcy." she signed then shook his hand.

"Whoa, how's that even work?" he asked, eyeing the rings on her fingers.

"They're actually a concept item. There were a bunch of designers and it came out of Asia University." she explained. "You can preset some signs in, customise it to you. My dad called in a favor and got me them so it would make school easier for me. So I didn't have to go to a school for the deaf. I sign, they translate out loud. I don't like to talk aloud. I was born deaf and I never really saw the need to talk." that was normal for some deaf kids. "I can if I have to though." she spoke aloud. Her accent was thick but understandable.

"Cool. Welcome to Sky High, Darcy." He suddenly turned to the front of the class, eyes shooting back to her. "Class is starting." Zach mouthed while facing her while he did so. He gestured towards the front and she turned to face the blackboard eagerly.

Class was actually pretty boring. It was the first day of the new school year but the rest of the sophomores seemed pretty relaxed. They'd done this last year so they knew the deal. The freshman were a little crazy with excitement, the juniors were panicked over college and making sure they get their grades up, and the seniors were the most relaxed of the groups. Typical high school. Darcy had observed all that when she was walking to the principals office earlier. It was pretty fun trying to figure out which students were in which grade based off of how relaxed they looked or how many books they had. "First things first!" Mr. Boy announced to the class. "Lets all get to know each other." If Darcy could hear, the collective groan the class let out would have been deafening. Getting to know each other games were, quite possibly, the worst part of the first day of school.

Mr. Boy handed out pieces of paper with things written on it like 'I wear size 7 shoes.' or 'I can speak more than one language'. The idea was to go around the class introducing yourself to people and getting them to sign one of the places they could. Most of the students stuck together in freshman year, it appeared, but in sophomore year the classes were broken up. Students had electives that they weren't aloud in freshman year so, instead of the same groups for each class, there were different mixtures of students. Students who didn't really interact last years were meeting for the first time. It was pretty standard but really fricken boring. Darcy signed her name next to 'Has green/hazel eyes' almost every time. She was surprised that none of the questions had anything to do with their super powers.

The first ten minutes consisted of kids shouting "Can anyone sign for-" and then listing what they needed signed for, and people tapping Darcy's shoulder to get her to sign their page for them. Darcy and Zach instantly paired up to give them an edge to the 'game' and proceeded to chat as they worked their way through the room. He was pretty funny, in a cheesy kind of way, and it instantly endeared him to her.

"So then I said 'Yeah! And if he loses, you can dunk Ethan's head in the toilet every day till graduation.' and guess what?"

"What Zach? You're friend is still getting his head dunked?" she signed as a tiny girl with large bug like glasses signed her paper.

"No. He won!" Zach responded with glee. The next ten minutes went on with Zach telling stories from last year and Darcy nodding and engaged. When time was called she was surprised to find her paper mostly filled out. She high fived Zach then took her seat.

Nobody even exchanged names or looked at each other for too long aside from her and Zach so she really didn't know how this 'game' was supposed to get the students to know each other better. Typical. When time was called and everyone had turned their papers in Mr. Boy gave them an assignment. They were to write a paper about what developments they'd had with their power over the summer, to be turned in at the end of class. Sky High, like other schools for super powered kids, didn't really teach average classes like English and Maths so they tried to incorporate the basic core classes into their regular, or irregular in this case, classes. They did a little writing and reading comprehension in certain classes and a little maths in others.

She got to work on her paper, everyone chatting happily throughout the rest of the class, and turned it in moments before her bracelet started vibrating. The bell. She hurried back to her desk to grab her bag then headed towards the door when she felt a gentle tap to her shoulder. "Hey, where you headed next?" Zach asked. Darcy was pretty happy that everyone so far looked directly at her when talking. It was almost like they'd been coached but she knew that wasn't the case.

"I have, uh-" she stopped signing, pulling out her schedule. She popped it into her mouth so her hands were free to sign "Ethics."

"Sucks man, I don't know anyone in Ethics this term. Hey, I'll see you later."

"Yeah. See you later." she signed and hurried off to her next class.

Unfortunately the next few classes of the day were just as unbearably boring as the first one and she didn't even have anyone to chat at to create some kind of break in the monotony. Everyone knows that the first day back from summer was annoying so she wasn't too surprised. When the bell rang for lunch she shot to her feet and was in the cafeteria so fast it was almost as if speed was her super power. Really, she just loved _food_. And not _class_.

She ordered her food, sliding her tray along the line until it was full, then headed for a table. She would have sat in a quiet spot in the corner of the cafeteria had Zach not appeared practically out of nowhere and gripped her elbow gently. "Hey Darce, wanna sit with me?" it took her a second to figure out what he'd called her. She'd never been called Darce before but the mouth shaped almost exactly like Darcy without the y at the end so she assumed that's what he called her.

"Sure." she said aloud, hands full with her tray and his arm hooked around hers.

"Cool. This way." he lead her to his table, pointing to where she could sit, then found his seat across from her and one seat to the left. She wondered why he wouldn't just sit next to her right up until a girl plopped down next to him, right across from Darcy. He wrapped his arm around her waist and smiled. "This is Magenta. Magenta, this is that girl from first period I told you about."

"Hey." the young woman responded as she looked up from her plate. She was beautiful with dark brown almost black hair. The purple highlights framed her face perfectly even with the rest of her hair pulled up into a messy looking bun. She wore a lot of purple, Darcy noticed. "Magenta." she offered her hand and Darcy took it, shaking it quickly before introducing herself.

"Darcy." she felt that she'd introduced herself enough for one lifetime by now.

She got to eating as the rest of the table slowly started to fill up. She could feel every time another person sat down, the depression of the table vibrating slightly. When she was done eating she looked up and everyone was staring at her. "I missed something didn't I?" everyone started talking at once making it impossible to actually understand anyone. She looked around the table several times then paused. "Warren!" she signed, bright smile on her face. That shut everyone up. Warren glanced up from his book, one she couldn't see the cover of, and rose a brow. And everyone promptly started talking at her again.

Her eyes shifted from person to person, panic slowly settling in. "Guys." Warren said, voice quiet but commanding the whole able in it's low baritone. Darcy couldn't hear it but she did notice that everyone turned to look at him, closing their mouths almost all at once. "One at a time." he sighed. It seemed to be a common problem among those at the table because they all shared sheepish looks.

"I'm Will Stronghold. Zach was just telling us a bit about you. Can you tell us a little more? We got your name and placement but we don't know your power or anything about you. You transferred in?"

"Will Stronghold? The son of the Commander and Jetstream? Neat!" she smiled a bit at that, taking him in. He was short and a little bulky wearing a red and blue shirt with a white stripe up the side and jeans. His hair was brown and combed neatly off to one side. "Ah well my mom is an engineer and my dad is a Hero. His cover job is Lawyer which is just as time consuming as his Hero job." her dad was actually pretty awesome in her book, she just wished she got to see him more. "I have an older sister that lives in New York and an older brother that lives in Chicago." It was like every time they moved they left a kid behind. "My sister is a sidekick to Striker, she's known as Phantom, and my brother is a Hero. He's kind of quiet though, prefers to work in the shadows. He's called Night Stalker."

"I've heard of him!" a darker skinned boy with glasses and an orange sweater supplied. "Sorry, I-I'm Ethan." he signed along as he spoke, surprising her slightly. It was clumsy but understandable.

"Nice to meet you." she signed in reply, pushing the few strands of her reddish brown hair that had managed to escape her ponytail behind her ear.

"So… your power?" Will prompted.

"Power Augmentation." she replied. "I can make other people's powers either stronger or weaker at my command." she explained. "It's pretty cool. I totally get why I'm sorted into Hero Support. It's a weird system though. We didn't have it at Under City High or Sea Deep High." she paused. "Now that I think about it, whoever names the schools is really lazy. Like… _really _lazy." she snickered. "Anyways, we all just train together. I know they use this system in other schools though. I just never had to attend one of them."

"Then how do you know if you're going to be a Hero or Sidekick?"

"You _choose_. When you graduate. I mean, it's usually pretty obvious what you're going to be. A lot of the times during their senior year people will pair off and pick their Hero or Sidekick. It's a lot more independant."

"See?" the redhead said suddenly, drawing everyone's attention. Darcy frowned, having missed what she'd said that brought everyone's attention to her but thankfully the redhead kept talking. "I told you guys that the Hero Sidekick dichotomy was flawed."

"Exactly what I said!" Darcy signed then threw her hands up in frustration. The redhead laughed, nodding enthusiastically.

"And that would be Layla." Zach explained, patting the redheaded girl on the shoulder.

"Okay so I've told you a bit about me but I only know names here." she signed promptly. "And Zach can glow of course. So… care to tell me a bit about yourself, Ethan?" she asked, turning to the boy sitting to her left. He was sitting across from Magenta right next to her. Will was on her other side, sitting across from Layla who was next to Zach on his other side.

"I melt." he responded, pushing his glasses up.

"You… what?"

"Melt. Like a popsicle. Into a puddle."

"Oh. Cool." she appeared nonplussed, finding his melting ability to be a lot more interesting than some of the other powers out there. "Can you melt other things? Have you tried?"

"Well, no." now that he thought about it it had never even occurred to him to try to melt other things. Darcy felt a tap on her shoulder and turned to Layla.

"While he's having an existential crisis I figured I'd go next. I control plants."

"Oh- that's-" she felt the bracelet vibrate and sighed. "The bell." she signed and stood up, tossing her trash. "I'll see you guys later!" she called back over her shoulder, wrinkling her nose up. She technically knew her voice sounded strange, despite never hearing it. It's why she tended to just not bother speaking. Letting the bracelets do the work. Before the bracelets were invented last year she did a lot of talking and signing. She personally didn't like it.

Classes after that were pretty boring. She found out she shared her next period with Layla though, a home economics elective course. Darcy really liked learning about sewing and cooking. She was the main cook at the house so any chance to learn about the science behind it she was totally up for. And it was all hands on in that class. She knew at some points she'd have to remove her rings but she'd put up with people not being able to understand her for a chance to do the things she loved. She passed notes with Layla most of the class as the teacher outlined what they were going to do. First term would be all about cooking, second term would be sewing. At the end of class they walked arm and arm to the second to last class of the day. Gym.

"Don't worry, they hardly ever pick new kids for save the citizen on their first day. Especially on the first day of school. They like to show off so Warren and Will will probably pair up to save the citizen." Layla assure Darcy as they walked into the changing room to get their gym uniforms on. Darcy gave her an uncertain look before getting changed and following her out to the gym. It looked more like an arena. Darcy wasn't exactly sure what she'd gotten herself into here. "Too bad gym isn't an elective. You're required to have all four years here, even if you don't plan on actually being a hero once you graduate." Layla groaned, Darcy could tell by how she dropped her head back and swallowed at the end of her sentence. "Gym is run differently here. Usually the freshman and juniors have class together then the sophomores and seniors but on save the citizen day everyone has gym together."

"How does that work with scheduling?" she signed, a confused look on her face.

"Tuesdays and thursdays are save the citizen days and the rest of the week you have your regular gym schedule." This year school started on a thursday. "Your schedule will be slightly different on these days depending on where your gym class falls. Because this is the normal time you have gym it won't change for you but Will usually has gym right after lunch. In an effort to have all classes together for save the citizen his gym class is shifted with the class he'd normally have this hour. It's like a big annoying game of grab bag. The teachers never get double booked on classes though, despite the switch up in times a class is held because classes are divided by grade and no elective classes were scheduled during gym so it's always a core class getting shifted. Make sense."

"Not really."

"... it's a confusing concept." Layla admitted and snapped her head up. "That's the whistle. Come on and sit down." she gripped Darcy's hand and tugged her to the bleachers. Darcy sat down, Warren sitting on the opposite side of her next to Zach who plopped down next. Layla was on her opposite side next to Will. She felt pretty welcome in the group, despite not knowing them for too long. She was a little worried that she'd more or less inserted herself in the middle of this group after knowing them for a short while but nobody seemed to mind. She looked up and prepared herself for her first game of save the citizen at Sky High.

* * *

><p>Sorry it's taking me so long to get through the first day at school. I promise the story will pick up a bit either in the next chapter or the one after it! Let me know what you think!<p> 


	3. Chapter 3

Darcy was no stranger to the concept of save the citizen. There was some version or another in every super high school that was out there. It was meant to prepare them for thinking on their feet and going against actual people with plans and opinions of their own. It was, in concept, a great idea. She was always just a bit worried that someone was going to get hurt but, if she was being completely honest with herself, she knew that nobody went easy on them in the real world. There wouldn't be a gym teacher on the sidelines calling out fouls. It would be real, bloody, and permanent.

And yet they were all cheering loudly as Will threw, actually lifted and _threw_, Warren across the arena. Darcy had to admit, it was pretty awesome. She found herself cheering with the rest of the crowd, hands in the air and a playful shout on her lips. Each round of save the citizen went more or less the same. Two new people would be chosen to go against Warren and Will and they would destroy them, more or less. It was fricken fantastic. She was bouncing up and down in her seat when the coach called out the next participants. Layla had to jab her in the side to get her attention. "He picked you." she hissed.

"What, what?" Darcy signed, brows furrowing in frustration and annoyance.

"He didn't get to send you through power placement… he probably wants to see what you can do." even without being able to hear Darcy would tell Layla was annoyed. Darcy jumped to her feet, letting Layla lead her down to the arena so she could get fitted with the protective gear. She pulled the plastic padded gear over her gym uniform with a little help from Will and Layla. A second later Jess approached with a bright smile on her face.

"Hey! I'm paired with you so don't worry, I got Warren taken care of. What was your power again?"

"I make people's powers stronger or weaker."

"Perfect! Ground Will as soon as you can." she said firmly, emphasizing it with a prim nod.

"Okay." Darcy signed in response and headed into the arena. Darcy wasn't much for the actual fighting aspect of training. She wasn't bad at it, she was actually pretty adept in hand to hand powerless combat, she just didn't _like _to do it. It wasn't her forte, so to speak. Her eyes narrowed at the coach, waiting for him to blow his whistle. She watched his lips purse around the whistle, signalling he'd blown it, and extended her powers outward.

It wasn't anything visible, just a stretch of her ability outward, but it was something she could _feel_. Jess had directed her towards Will so she stretched towards him, hand lifting almost as if she'd just thrown something at him, fingers outstretched in his direction. She found his abilities, capturing them in her minds eye, and cut the cord so to speak. It was like an energy she could feel resonating inside him, inside every super. His was bright blue, the color of sapphires, and strong with a strange string of red wrapping around the blue. His second ability. It was like she was plucking the strings of a guitar. She captured it, the red first, wrapping it up and pulling it from him. He lifted his hands like he was going to fly, lifted maybe an inch off the ground, then fell back onto his feet with a resonating thud that rocked the wood of the basketball flooring.

So the red was his ability to fly.

She threw her other hand out towards him, lifting it up and closing her fist. It was rare to come across someone with more than one power so she was having difficulties capturing his second power. It was stronger, more rooted to him than the flight was. The red string had been tentative but integral to him. The blue, strength, _was _him. She could only weaken it so much, only pull it from him so much. A burst of cold drew her attention from Will suddenly as a shield of ice grew in front of her. A second later a ball of fire smashed into it. Warren had been trying to distract her, he'd fired a ball of flame at her. Or, she hoped he'd only been trying to distract her and not actually hurt her. She doubted he was cruel.

The ice shield fell and Darcy's eyes snapped towards Jess. Freez Girl. She was locked in battle with Warren as he tried to get to the citizen that was slowly lowering towards a death machine. Darcy couldn't do much more than hold Will's powers, he was too powerful and took most of her concentration. And suddenly he was on her, gripping her arms and lifted her by the waist. She had been too busy paying attention to Warren and Jess's fight to realize that Will had been advancing on her. She let out a surprised yelp and lost control over his strength. She still managed to keep him grounded though, go Darcy.

The upside of having Will lift her off the ground all of a sudden was that she could actually get her hands on him. "Big mistake." she said aloud. He looked startled by her words but that didn't stop her. Now that she was actually touching him she could control his powers better. Proximity and touch strengthened her ability. The farther away the harder it got for her to use them on that person. She gripped his shoulders firmly and then she had it. She had his powers on lockdown. She felt his arms wobble as he held her, saw the expletive leave his lips, and suddenly they were falling. Will shifted them mid fall, arms gripping her tightly and thrusting her to the side so, as they crashed down, she landed atop him instead of on the hard flooring. She bounced off his chest and rolled to the side, jumping up instantly.

Her first reaction was to offer him a hand up but she was in it to win it in this game so she turned to Warren instead. His power was orange. Instead of being firm, an iron rod inside him like Will's had been, it ebbed and flowed inside him. Her eyes briefly glanced up at the clock, thirty seconds remaining, then locked on his face. She brought her hands up, cupping them like she was holding a bowl of soup, and tried to manipulate his powers into her hold. Each person was different so she had to use a different method if control. She'd tried to explain it once to her dad but they'd both ended up more confused then before so she gave up. The flames around his arms started to dull and recede slightly, a look of confused frustration crossing Warrens face.

Will's hand gripped her ankle, catching her off balance and causing her to lose her focus. She tried to disengage but it only ended up knocking hr back even harder due to his grasp being iron tight. A sudden rush of head caused her head to snap up towards Warren again. The blast hit her dead center of the chest causing her to fly backwards and whack into the wall. The fire itself didn't hurt, it was more like a strange rush of heat that faded quickly, it was the combination of Will's hand on her ankle and being blown back into the wall that caused her to cry out in pain. All the air rushed out of her lungs as she tumbled over Will and crashed to the ground perpendicular to him. He was up in a rush after that but Darcy couldn't bring herself to get up when she was having issues breathing. A moment later, it felt like only a few seconds, Jess was helping her to her feet.

"We lost. You took a pretty rough fall, are you okay?" she asked. Darcy nodded, glancing around the gym as she caught her breath. Will and Warren were making their way over to the two of them, the crowd looked like it was cheering, and the citizen was lying on the ground next to the wood chipper.

"You okay?" Warren asked first as they made it over to them.

"Yeah." she signed, shaking her head. "Good game guys, was a lot of fun."

"You did great for your first go. _I_ won my first match but that's practically unheard of."

"You know, you're real humble, Will." Darcy snorted, raising her brow so he'd understand the sarcasm in the comment. The bracelets read everything she signed with no real inflection, like a computer, so facial expression was very important to communication. Facial expression and body language was important in general for the deaf. Will had the sense of mind to at least look sheepish at her comment. She felt her wrist vibrate at the same time Jess spoke up.

"That's the changing bell. We only have ten minutes to get dressed, come on."

It didn't take her more than a minute to get stripped of the extra gear and drop it off in the bin. She hurried back to the locker room, pulling off her grey and orange uniform and tugging on her jeans, t-shirt, and wrapping her sweat jacket around her hips. It was an old purple one her sister had handed down to her a few years ago. All the soft purple fuzz on the inside had worn down over the years and there was a permanent stain on one of the sleeves in a suspicious dark brown color that had faded over the years but it was her favorite. The stain had come from the time Darcy broke her nose walking into a door. She'd pressed the sleeve of the sweat jacket to her nose for a second before her mother had paper towels pressed to it. The small stain was a pretty good reminder to watch where she was going. She always wore it the first day of class at a new school.

Her wrist vibrated again letting her know that the bell for her last period had rang and she was off like a shot. Her final class of the day, Heroes; A History, was one of her junior level classes. When she plopped down in the seat after accepting her book from the teacher she was pleasantly surprised to find she shared the class with both Warren and Jess. Unfortunately she was assigned a seat in the front whereas Warren and Jess were seated in the back. She would have pouted if she had the energy. Fortunately for her class went very fast. The bell rang and she waved her goodbyes to Warren and Jess before practically skipping off to the bus.

As far as first days go this one was pretty good, even she could admit that. She got home, dropping her bag on the couch and her sweater on the back of her chair, and made her way upstairs to grab her laptop. She wandered back downstairs a little while later, laptop in hand, and got to work on her homework. Her mind strayed part way through typing up her work and she found herself on facebook. She had a few new friend requests and instantly accepted the ones from Layla, Will, and Jess. Her mom came home a little while later, busting her for slacking.

She spent the next hour or so telling her mom all about her day. By the time her dad got home she was too tired to really go into it again. She kissed him goodnight and turned to head upstairs. At the top of the steps she turned, hand at the ready to smack the wall gently but hard enough to get her parents attention, when she noticed the look on her dad's face. She knew whatever they were talking about was more important than what she was going to say so she let her hand drop, watching them curiously. Her dad looked worried and her mom looked scared. She shifted uneasily then went up to bed. She could ask them about it in the morning when she wasn't so tired.

* * *

><p>All right! I got to hint a little at the plot and got her first day over with which means the pace of this story is going to pick up, it's going to get less boring, and some drama and angst is going to happen. Can't wait!<p>

Also, this is my NaNoWriMo so I plan on getting it all typed and finished before the end of November.


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